 Credit: Kaila Bruner
Described by Paste as having "a truly stunning, one-of-a-kind" sound, female Americana foursome The Krickets - Amanda Kolb (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, lap steel), Emily Stuckey (guitar, percussion, mandolin), Lauren Spring (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Katrina Kolb (bass) - just released their sophomore album, Redbird.
Produced by Grammy nominee Sam Ashworth and recorded at Brown Owl Studios in Nashville the album has everything from traditional country to folk rock steeped in heavenly harmonies and an earthy instrumentation. Here, the women answer their Essential 8 where they speak about Redbird's eye-catching artwork, songwriting inspiration, their go-to food on the road, and more! Amanda Kolb, vocals/fiddle: What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out? The best advice I would give is to be confident in your gifts and abilities, and to not compare yourself to anyone else. What is your favorite (or first) concert you have ever attended? When I was 9 years old, my family and I attended a Ricky Skaggs concert in Biloxi, MS. This was the first real concert I had ever been to, and even though it was not a huge production, it still left a huge impact on me. I remember falling in love with fiddle music (at the time, Bobby Hicks and Andy Leftwich were both playing fiddle for Ricky) and thinking how awesome it would be to play the fiddle. Emily Stuckey, vocals/guitar: Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you? Julie Sweet. She taught me to sing with everything I got and to never apologize for any mistakes musically. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing? Mostly from a current mood or situation that impacts me on a spiritual level enough to translate into song.
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 Courtesy of the Artist Instantly recognizable as the spokesperson for Trivago across North America for five years, Tim Williams shifts from acting to music with the launch of his new project Magnolia City, which was released on September 28.
Produced by Norbert Hamm, the producer behind German sensation Herbert Gronemeyer, Magnolia City features ten songs all chronicling a chapter in Tim's life and the experiences he's gained traveling the globe as an actor and spokesperson. Here, Williams answers his Essential 8 where he shares the story behind Magnolia City, his songwriting process, and much more. What’s the story behind Magnolia City? I wanted to write a song about my hometown, Houston, Texas. I didn’t want to call it Houston or H-town so I went to Google and started looking at nicknames for the city. That is when I found Magnolia City and we built the song around that nickname. This song is about my longing for Houston as I live 8,500 miles away in Germany. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing? I would say it’s a feeling in my heart. I like to examine what’s been bothering me or how I am feeling that day and create a song around that emotion or idea. Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination? It’s a combination of all of the above. Sometimes, it’s a personal story. On others, it could be inspired by something that I saw. Take a look around, as there are memorable experiences all around you. I’ll take those back and write songs about them; or, as an actor/writer, I can use those experiences in my next script What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician? “Let your vocals soar above your music and make it your own.” Herbert Gronemeyer  Photo Credit: Bradley Cox, Giant Eye Photography A folk singer-songwriter and guitar player heavily influenced by poetry, nature, and jazz music, Daniel Steinbock released his first solo album, The Blade, in 2012, and a self-released EP, Sea Inside, a year earlier. The bulk of his upcoming album, Out of Blue, due in 2019, was recorded live in the 100 year-old OK Theatre in Enterprise, Oregon. Here, ahead of the release, Steinbock took the time to thoughtfully answer his Essential 8 where he discusses songwriting, shares the story behind the album's title as well as the song, "Pine Needles," and much more.
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing? I was born in Boonville, CA in the coastal mountains north of San Francisco. Growing up, I spent my free time playing in the woods and sailing with my parents on the sea. I think the comfort and sanity I feel in natural places mirrors my love for natural sounds and acoustic instruments. The land and sea, woods and rivers, show up a lot in my lyrics. Emotions can often feel too immense for one body and larger than any words can adequately capture. That’s when I tend to use symbols and images from the natural world, vast landscapes and forces, that somehow come closer in feeling to the inner emotional landscape. When/where do you do your best writing? About 1 in 5 of my songs are written in dreams while I’m sleeping. I might dream I’m playing a show or maybe I’m in the audience listening to someone play. I’ll wake up singing the song. Dream memories are so fragile, you can forget them if you just roll over in bed, so I might spend 30 minutes in bed rehearsing it to myself before I even move or open my eyes, then reach for my phone to record it. It’s hard for me to take credit for writing these songs. It’s miraculous when it happens. Please choose one song and tell the story behind it. I was playing a house concert in Mill Valley, CA, in a living room surrounded on all sides by redwood trees. The audience was sitting on the living room floor, all pressed together, their faces looking up at me as I worked my way through the set. Towards the end of the show, a voice shouted a song request from the back of the room and I froze, dumbstruck. There was nothing unusual about someone requesting a song, but the song he requested happened to be one I hadn’t written yet. All I had were a couple lines of lyrics — and so far as I knew, no one in the world knew that song existed except me. He had, in fact, quoted one of the lines. I replied that I hadn’t finished that song yet. After the show, I talked to him and it turns out I’d mentioned the line he’d quoted to a mutual friend of ours and he thought it was a song title. I went home and finished that song. A year later, I sang it at that guy’s wedding. The song is “Pine Needles,” on my upcoming record, Out of Blue. |